[Time flies.]
[Time reached the moment when your daughter graduated from elementary school.]
[You and your husband discussed Ayase's plans for middle school. At present, there were two options in front of you.]
[1. A private girls' school.]
[2. A public middle school.]
[Your husband recommended the first option, saying that private schools had better teaching resources and higher deviation scores, which would allow your daughter to grow up in a better environment.]
[You did not rush to make a decision with your husband, instead handing the choice over to your daughter.]
["Dad, if Ayase goes to a girls' school, does that mean I'll only be able to see girls from then on?"]
["That's right. For the three years of middle school, it will be girls only."]
[Your husband nodded.]
["…Uu~"]
[Ayase seemed somewhat resistant. She had attended a regular elementary school, where the class had an even split between boys and girls.]
[You thought that if your daughter suddenly went to a girls' school, she might not adapt well to the environment.]
["Honey…"]
[You looked at your husband and spoke to persuade him. "If Ayase doesn't like it, let her go to a regular school. There are plenty of private middle schools outside that are co-ed. There's one nearby with a deviation score of around 68."]
[You had done your homework in advance and quickly listed several schools that were viable options.]
[After a moment of silence.]
["…Let's listen to you. Ayase's feelings are the most important."]
[Toru had never been a chauvinist. He did not force his daughter to walk down a path he had decided for her.]
["Yay!!"]
[Kitahara Ayase raised both hands and cheered a few times, then ran to her father's side, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed his cheek several times. "Ayase loves Dad the most!"]
[She was already twelve this year, yet she was still hugging her father and kissing him like this, which made you feel a little uneasy.]
[A girl's attachment to her father should usually end in kindergarten. You did not know why your own little darling had delayed it until middle school.]
[At this moment.]
[All you could do was hope in your heart that Ayase would quickly find a boy she liked, properly separating fatherly love from romantic feelings, and stop mixing the two together.]
[It seemed that heaven responded to your wish.]
[Your daughter was very popular in middle school and received many love letters every week.]
[She brought these letters home every day, carefully reading them and writing replies.]
[This made you feel relieved. Your daughter did not trample on other people's feelings carelessly.]
[Correspondingly…]
[Your husband's mood was not nearly as good.]
[That night.]
["What are you thinking about?"]
[You lay on your husband's shoulder, looking lazy, your fingertips drawing circles on his chest.]
["If Ayase brings her boyfriend home one day, what should I do?" Toru felt like lighting a cigarette at that moment to express the melancholy in his heart, but unfortunately he never smoked and had no such habit. He was the same with alcohol, only tasting it lightly.]
[He had indulged himself before, so he understood the importance of self-discipline.]
["Ayase has her own life. We shouldn't interfere…"]
["I know. I just hope she doesn't get tricked by some bad man. There are a lot of guys in society who look one way on the surface but are completely different underneath, flashy on the outside and rotten on the inside."]
[Your husband's voice was heavy with worry.]
[If your daughter brought home some blond tanned delinquent-looking guy, it would be hard for him not to beat someone up.]
["Ayase's taste isn't that bad," you smiled.]
[What did your husband think his own daughter was? Ayase was not stupid. She was the sharpest tool in the shed.]
["I hope so."]
[The result, however, exceeded your expectations.]
[At the beginning of her second year of middle school, Kitahara Ayase suddenly started paying attention to her appearance and often went out alone on weekends.]
[She said she had plans with friends, but Toru did not believe her.]
["It's definitely a boyfriend…"]
["Don't be so nervous. It might really just be friends."]
[Although you said that, you were not very confident either. With your daughter acting like this, the answer was obvious. She had someone she liked.]
[A thirteen-year-old daughter was right at the age when feelings begin to bloom.]
[This was something you could not stop.]
["No, I need to find an opportunity to go check the situation…"]
[Toru paced back and forth a few times, like an ant on a hot pan. He simply could not imagine what his daughter would be like when she was in love.]
[If the little padded jacket that always let the wind through was draped over someone else's shoulders, your husband might drink his sorrows away for several months.]
[You knew what he was worried about, but still tried to persuade him to relax a little.]
[When your friends found out about this, their expressions varied.]
[Most of them were looking forward to little Ayase finding someone she liked among her peers. Only Yamada Ryo did not comment.]
[Little Ayase often went to Aunt Ryo's house and even affectionately called her Ryo Mama…]
[You suspected that they had secretly reached some strange agreement, such as a plan to help Ryo Mama pursue Dad.]
[Later, the truth was revealed.]
[Kitahara Ayase had not found a boyfriend at all. Learning how to dress up was simply because she had reached the age where she cared about looking pretty.]
[When she went out on weekends, she was meeting only friends of the same gender.]
[During this period.]
[Toru's protection of his daughter went a little too far.]
[It even looked somewhat like stalking.]
[By the way, Kitahara Ayase continued to treat her father with the same hot-and-cold attitude she had in elementary school. After entering middle school, this personality became even more pronounced.]
[When she was happy, Ayase would hug her dad and kiss him. When she was in a bad mood, she would give him the cold shoulder.]
[You felt that this kind of father-daughter relationship was not good and could not be considered harmonious.]
[But Toru seemed to enjoy it very much and even said that this was how a father and daughter should be.]
What exactly had Kitahara-kun gone through?
Why did he not mind Ayase being this rebellious at all? How strange.
[Ayase's rebellious phase lasted until she graduated from middle school.]
[Throughout all of middle school, she never had a boyfriend, and she did not even have many male friends, usually sticking close to a few girls.]
[After graduating peacefully from middle school.]
[You sent your daughter to a nearby private elite high school.]
[Your graceful daughter was very popular with those around her.]
[Kitahara Ayase had been gifted since childhood. Playing the violin cultivated in her a noble and elegant temperament. Combined with her silver-white long hair, she carried an aura of pure, immaculate holiness.]
[No one would dislike a beautiful girl, especially such an almost perfect one.]
[High school began.]
[After her rebellious phase ended, Kitahara Ayase's attitude toward her father improved a lot, and she treated him gently every day.]
[This made your husband happy for a long time.]
[Until one month after the start of school.]
[Toru accidentally saw his daughter walking down the street with the back of someone with short hair, wearing a male uniform.]
[His mindset collapsed.]
————